Once bit, twice shy
by Stormbringer246
Summary: Drabble. Taken place during episode Bitter work. Zuko centric musings on past events, attempted character development, and Avatar relationship non ship understanding. Oneshot.


Taken place during the episode "Bitter Work" in Second season. Spoilers for that episode.

Italis are a combo of Zuko's thoughts and Flashbacks (context explains (I hope) which)

I do not own Avatar yada yada yada, you know the drill.

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"Fire is the element of power. The people of the Fire Nation have desire and will, and the energy and drive to achieve what they want."

Zuko could feel his back stiffen, intently listening to his uncle's words, hovering on the end of each sentence.

"Earth is the element of substance. The people of the Earth Kingdom are diverse and strong. They are persistent and enduring."

Zuko didn't know where his uncle was going with this. Why did he need to know this? But as his years traveling with the elder had taught him that patience was key, so Zuko concentrated his attention to the crafted symbols on the ground.

"Air is the element of freedom. The Air Nomads detached themselves from worldly concerns and found peace and freedom."

Zuko had the Avatar's face in his mind. Zuko flashed back to the time that the Avatar had saved him when he was the Blue Spirit. He remembered the young boy's hopeful look and optimism for friend ship, and how the Avatar looked so pained as he traveled back 100 years ago…As though he was fighting between a world of mature detachment and child hood carefree-ness. "Also, they apparently had pretty good senses of humor!" Zuko let this remark slip by

"Water is the element of change. The people of the Water Tribe are capable of adapting to many things. They have a deep sense of community and love that holds them together through anything."

Zuko thought on this for several heartbeats. He though of the Southern water tribe, the water bending girl _What was her name?_ He thought of all the times she could have just fessed up and had the easy life if only she'd turned over the avatar. He remembered her feisty looks as she tried calculating her disadvantages. He remembered how she'd offered to help heal Zuko's uncle _Why had she offered that?_ Zuko shook his head, attempting to clear the girl from her mind.

"Understanding others, the other elements, and the other nations will help you become whole. The technique I am about to teach you is one I learned by studying the water benders."

Zuko's head snapped up, and his eyes came back from months in the past. The past. It was all behind him now.

The waterbender.

The fire nation.

The Avatar.

He could never go back.

Wasn't the fact that he couldn't even create lightning because of some "inner turmoil" proof enough that he was a failure? Zuko felt his chest tighten as the all too familiar feeling of helplessness closed in around him. _NO_ He didn't want that. Zuko stood up. He would learn to re-direct lightning. He would defeat his sister. He would prove to his father, to himself, to the Avatar, that he wasn't a failure.

_My father says she was born lucky. He says I was lucky to be born.__I don't need luck though, I don't want it. I've always had to struggle and fight and that's made me strong. It's made me who I am_. The memory burned intensely behind Zuko's eyes as he inhaled and concentrated on the flow of his chi.

_If we knew each other back then, do you think we could have been friends too?_ No. Zuko didn't think so. If they had known each other back then, then he would have never even meet the small air bending boy, never seen him, but distantly acknowledged his existence. Zuko's arms traveled up, down, over, out up, down, over, out…. _. I've always had to struggle and fight and that's made me strong. It's made me who I am_..

_It's made me who I am_..

_It's made me who I am_.

Zuko could feel his chi rippling through him. _I finally have you. But I can't get you home because of this blizzard. There's always something… _

_There's always something._

Zuko sighed as he lowered his arms. He thought he got it all pretty much committed to memory. Zuko turned his head and stared out at the oncoming storm clouds. Why did it always rain when he felt like this?

"I'm ready to try it with real lightning!"

You only get one real chance to prove that you can do it right. Why not prove it right now? And if you can't get it you can just go back and try again right? That is… if you can get over your humiliation.

_Prince Zuko, pride is not the object of shame, but its source. True humility is the only antidote to shame._

For once in Zuko's life he though his Uncle's wise words may just be right. And what did it matter if he got it wrong then? He'd been battered and bruised so many times before… what did one more time matter? He always sprang back up again, just a bit more wary the next time.

Once bit, twice shy.

"But I'm not going to shoot lightning at you! If you are lucky, you will never have to use this technique at all."

Oh well. Zuko would get his chance someday. He knew he would. And he dearly hoped that the Avatar would be around to watch.

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A/N: So originally this was going to be a vaguely Zutara story based around the "the water tribe people are"… but it didn't turn out that way. In fact, it's like my mind was rapidly coming up with all these different Zuko Aang bonding parallel things but my fingers couldn't keep up so it ended up as half thoughts messily put together. But I would love to hear any response you may have to this! I hope that it kind of got you thinking into deeper levels into the show, and I can't wait to see if someone took one of the ideas and ran with it (I would be glad and very happy to read the running in the comments too!)

I hope you enjoied!


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